I can clearly recall my first viewing of 'Quatermass and the Pit'; it would have been sometime around 1988. The BBC were showing a number of horror genre films on, as I recall, BBC One in the late hours of Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
Due to my tender age at the time, I would not been up to watch these nor really allowed to, given the films' certifications, Most of them would have been certified X by the censors at the time of original release.
So wanting to watch such films some junior subterfuge was required, hence I persuaded my father to record the films in which I was interested on VHS for consumption the next day whilst my mother would be oblivious as she prepared the Sunday roast.
Amongst the films shown and watched by the almost ten year old me were Hammer classics such as 'Dracula Prince of Darkness' and 'Frankenstein Created Woman'. Both of these films interested me greatly, but it was 'Quatermass and the Pit' that really grabbed my attention - and ultimately paved the path to this website.
After some twenty-three years the film makes it début on a domestic high definition format, and very welcome it is too.
But first some background to the film and it's pre history.
To many readers of this site, and fans of Hammer and vintage BBC Television, the plot of the film and indeed the contrasts between both the BBC and Hammer versions are well known and documented. For those new to the film, here's a short précis of Kneale's clever and compelling tale ...
"Starting work on a Central Line extension programme at Hobbs End Underground Station, workers uncover a series of skulls just inside the area of the new tunnel. Palaeontologist Dr Roney is called in with his assistant Miss Judd, who begin so slowly uncover more remains of what seems to be one of modern man's earliest ancestors. But work is halted abruptly with the discovery of what appears to be at first encounter an unexploded bomb.
Meanwhile Prof Quatermass is meeting with the War Office ... it seems that his British Rocket Group is to be diverted from civilian research to military endeavours. Quatermass is introduced to the fact that Col Breen is to, ostensibly, be his new boss.
As an Army Bomb Disposal team's work at the dig progresses, they reveal more of the the supposed bomb, it becomes clear that this not a V2 or similar weapon that were familiar to the residents of London during WWII. The team leader, Capt. Potter, calls in help from Col Breen.
As Breen attends site along with Quatermass, the whole missile is revealed. A perfectly preserved skull is found inside the missile. But with the fragile fossils being dated as around five million years old, questions begin to mount up as to how the skull remained remarkably preserved.
Found to be harder the diamond, capable of withstanding heat over over 3000 degrees Celsius, and covered inside with ancient cabalistic markings, it becomes clear to Quatermass that this missile is not the product of the Third Reich.
As Quatermass, Roney and Judd investigate the possible source of the missile they uncover local stories of hauntings, poltergeists, and weird happenings in the area, going back to the times of the Romans. But things get more sinister as the opening of the sealed compartment inside the missile reveal what Roney and Quatermass believe to be Martian Colonists, five millions years after they made their visit to earth ..."
The adaptations by Hammer of the two previous BBC Quatermass series happened within two years or so of the BBC broadcasting their serials. But for 'Quatermass and the Pit', the wait was some nine years. It seems a mixture of Kneale's general unhappiness with the previous two films, and also Hammer's position with it's distributors contributed to this delay.
Kneale had been unhappy with a number of elements of the earlier Hammer Quatermass films. The rights to 'The Quatermass Experiment' had been sold to Hammer without any involvement from him at all. (At the time Kneale was a BBC staff writer and hence had very little control over his work once he'd submitted his scripts). He'd also been uncomfortable with the casting of Brian Donlevy in the title role.
By 1960 Hammer had contracts with just about every major worldwide studio distributor, which meant that during this time the company producing films continually. Such a situation does have some downsides, that of the "he who pays the piper calls the tune", hence the main distributors were more interested in bigger more recognisable stories for Hammer to adapt or build upon rather than BBC TV serials of the 1950's.
Despite having optioned the film from the BBC in 1961, the above issues all lead to it being some time before Hammer had all the necessary factors in an agreeable position to begin shooting.
The film was shot by experienced director, Roy Ward Baker. This was Baker's first directing job for Hammer, but he had a long list of both film and television work before this; films such as 'The October Man' and 'A Night to Remember', and for television shows such as 'The Avengers', 'The Baron' and 'Gideon's Way'.
The cast featured a number of familiar Hammer face; Andrew Keir cast as the eponymous professor, and Barbara Shelley as the Roney's assistant, Barbara Judd.
In and odd move for any film named after a central character, the top billing went to James Donald, who appeared in what is the main supporting role, that of Dr Roney.
None of the main stars in the film were particularly familiar to audiences outside of the UK, but Donald had appeared in films such as 'Bridge over the River Kwai' and 'The Great Escape', so it's perhaps understandable that top billing of Donald may attract a little more attention than say top billing of Keir.
Donald's portrayal of Dr Roney is for me somewhat flat.
It's a very solid and believable performance, but it leaves Roney as a
somewhat two dimensional character; the sort of person you'd imagine was
defined only by their job. So whilst Roney is ultimately
the hero of the piece there is a dimension I find lacking in this
characterisation.
Cast in the part of Col Breen was a youthful Julian Glover. At the age of 32 Glover was at this point perhaps a little young to be playing an army officer of such a rank and to have had any war time army experience. (Glover was born 1935, just four years before the outbreak of WWII). However what he lacks in years is more than made up for by his performance.
The part of Barbara Judd is greatly reduced in comparison to the BBC version of the story, but this does not hold back Barbara Shelley from giving a very understated and warm performance. (Indeed her performance as Barbara 'possessed' towards the end of the film is both chilling and somewhat sensual at the same time.)
Keir's Quatermass is a good solid one, indeed Keir was a good solid actor. There is something slightly aggressive if not short tempered about this incarnation of the Professor. I'm perhaps alone in thinking that there are still some hangovers from Donlevy's portrayal - that of the irked, annoyed and harassed professor, who doesn't suffer fools lightly and is somewhat intolerant of many of those around him. This contrasts greatly with actors such as Morell and Sir John Mills who have played a different, more genial and thoughtful type of professor altogether.
It's reported that Keir was not happy as he may have been in lead
role in this film. Rumour suggests that Ward Baker had wanted to cast
Kenneth Moore in the role of Quatermass, and that Keir came as a 'second'
and this let to Keir's unhappiness. What is more of a mystery is
whether or not the actor who had played Quatermass in the BBC version of
'Quatermass and the Pit' in the 1950s and was by the time a Hammer
regular, was approached: Andre Morell.
Having said that Keir serves up a Quatermass with the passion. This performance marches with the pace of the story. It brings a drive to the part that some of those to have also played the part have not.
Shooting took place at MGMs Borehamwood Studios, which was rather
expansive compared to Bray Studios and other facilities that Hammer had
hitherto used. Principal photography ran from 27th February 1967 to 25th April 1967.
Tasked with scoring the film was composer Tristram Carey. In the early 1960s Carey had scored a number of early episodes of 'Doctor Who' with his, at the time, unusual wholly electronic scores. Hammer in fact asked Carey to provide both an electronic score and a traditional orchestrated sound track, something which Carey protested about as it doubled his work and left him short of time to do the job that he wanted to do.
The resultant score used on the film is something if a mix. Hammer were not completely happy with Carey's work and replaced a number of cues (notably the music for the closing credits) with library pieces from composers such as Dennis Farnon.
Some forty-four years later the film is released by Optimum on the HD blu-ray format complete with a number of extras, most seen here for the first time. The film has had a full HD transfer from what looks
like a print or negative which are in very good condition. The package also includes the same transfer but encoded on a DVD.
The film, presented here, is in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, which fills completely a standard 16:9 wide-screen television set. The Blu-Ray disc is HD Standard 1080p, encoded as region B and the DVD is encoded as PAL, region 2.
Watching the film, it's evident that the picture encompasses much greater detail than was seen before on DVD,, the crispness of the picture allows a detail to shine through which in turn allows the viewer to pick up on small things such as details of the set, characters costumes etc. A well made HD transfer of a film can really be a revelation, which indeed this is.
The film as it appears on both the Blu-Ray and the DVD is somewhat on
the dark side. This is evident from the start; the cast credits are
grey rather than the bright white which they should be (some of the captions in this article have been lightened in photo-shop to show the skull properly on a computer screen), so
this in some respect is detracting from or masking over the enhanced
detail you'd expect from an HD presentation.
If there is on grumble to be had it's with some of the grading work, especially around what appears to be the transition from one film reel to the next ...
The two captures below show the issue I've found when I believe film reels change over. These two screen shots are from the scene in the church where Quatermass and Judd visit a deeply disturbed Sladden ...
The first and second pictures are split by a quick shot of Quatermass snapping out another question to Sladden.
It's clear to see that the colour balance, brightness and warmth of the picture changes markedly. This is not something that I've noticed before either on the DVD, VHS or television broadcasts. Whether this is an unavoidable by-product of ageing film stock, or an oversight during the HD transfer is unclear.
It's a small niggle, but it's rather irksome to be distracted by something like this at such a charged moment during the story.
Perhaps the most perplexing thing about the whole product is the cover. It shows the legend from the film's opening credits, in front of silhouetted figures running away from a green light or some sort of explosion. In it's own right it's very striking, but it would be far more appropriate on a cover for a release of a 1950's B movie, as it bears absoltuely no relation to the film contained within. Something as simple as the skull featured in the opening credits would have been more appropriate.
The selection of extras is impressive; first of all a selection separately presented, individual interviews with the the following people;
- Kneale's widow, writer Judith Kerr;
- US film maker Joe Dante;
- Writers Mark Gattis;
- Writer and Critic Kim Newman,
- Hammer Historian, Marcus Hearne.
- Star of the film. Julian Glover.
The interviews are presented with a fixed, locked off camera and the interviewee talking to the interviewed (who is not seen or heard and is presumable standing behind the camera). Each interview is split into sections with an on screen caption introducing each section.
The only moan I'd have to make about these interviews is what I feel are fairly silly and somewhat sloppy errors on the captions. Mistakes such as references to "Quartermass" and "Nigel Neal" crop up a few times. Yes, they're human errors, but it suggests a lack of attention to detail, or just a lack of proof reading.
A commentary is provided, which is a porting of the commentary from the Anchor Bay DVD release from a number of years ago; Kneale and Ward Baker in conversation. It's interesting enough, but as time goes on longer and longer sections of silence ensue, which is shame. Clearly the two commentators have become engrossed the film's action. A moderator would have perhaps been advisable, especially because as the film reaches it's climax the conversation becomes somewhat of a mutual back-slapping session, as Kneale and Ward Baker tell each other how wonderful they are.
It's worth noting that the DVD version in the set does not contain the extras (other than english subtitles). The interviews et al are confined to the Blu-Ray only.
In conclusion, a release not quite perfect, but very near it. A great addition to the collection of Quatermass products available in the market.
Here's looking forward to an HD release for the two Hammer Quatermass films from the 1950s, and dare we hope for it, a release from Network DVD of the ITV Thames 'Quatermass' on a shiny Blu-Ray disc.
© Lance A Marshall, 2011.
